Album Review: Lady Lamb the Beekeeper ‘Ripley Pine’

When I first heard of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper about four years ago I went looking for an album, but no proper record existed. It seemed inevitable she would get around to it, which she has, and at the time I looked forward to that for two reasons: First, because I hoped after listening to her debut I would have some idea what her name meant. Second, because she was and is one of the most promising indie-folk girls out there. I still don’t have a clue what the name is all about (apparently it came to her in a dream), but we’ll see if she can meet my second expectation.

‘Hair to the Ferris Wheel’ opens Ripley Pine, starting out with whimsical beauty and building to show the almost stadium potential and presence of her voice. Which may actually be a bad thing in the indie world, but we like it at face value. The song then explodes into a kind of childish, emotional fit, which seems to be her boilerplate model for a crescendo. Fair enough.

She is a kind of natural hipster, but even if it isn’t forced it is likely to turn off some listeners. The record isn’t short on youthful pretentiousness, and these songs were largely written when she was a teenager, but in the absence of cynicism her poetry isn’t bad at all. Both her music and vocal style seem highly derivative, but she spices it up in various ways that satisfy without having to be examined. She feels unique and fresh because she expresses so bravely and strongly, honest and full of soul.

On ‘Bird Balloons’ she reveals her rock side, which is only slightly more manic. There are subtle sounds in the background like a midi keyboard or a toy piano, creating an odd sense of levity or psychosis to counter her aggression here, which the lyrics seem to explain as the result of hateful, complicated love. The sharp breath after she sings “and our breath caught” is one of several moments on this record where the impartiality of the listener is broken, forcing full attention.

Immediately following is ‘Regarding Ascending the Stairs’, which unfortunately lost my interest, and that’s a shame because I liked it very much as an unreleased track. It’s a good song, but it’s not strong enough to follow an immensely impactful emotional thrashing. ‘You Are the Apple’ feels like the second part of this one, and shows that there is room in simple indie tracks for distinct movements over a verse-chorus-verse structure. It also shows that this too can be formulaic, as I can’t help but see generic scenes from indie movies when I listen to her weaker songs.

I really didn’t expect a ton of production on this record. She has often seemed wont to be larger than herself, and the horns on a track like ‘Aubergine’, or the overly cute, echoing vocal runs on ‘Florence Berlin’ work nearly as well as her screams on ‘Crane Your Neck’ to accomplish that. In a way it feels like this album is too polished, but that’s a hard call to make and I can’t fault the decision to be a bit precious with it. It’s just disheveled enough to work.

Regarding ‘Crane your Neck’, this to me is her most important song, and getting it right in the studio is probably the vital test for this record. She wisely chose to leave this one relatively raw and untouched, sounding enough like a live performance not to lose its edge. She strains to sing the shouty bits, and her voice is remarkably good for a girl who is certainly not hitting the notes, as is her guitar which sounds out of tune. Live, this song grabs an audience, makes them uncomfortable enough to pay attention, and pulls yuppie faces out of their iPads and into her sorority of fans.

Another standout for me is ‘Mezzanine’, which is probably the most interesting song on the record for the stylistic choices she made. It sounds like it was torn from the catalog of the Fiery Furnaces and retooled to be ever so slightly more approachable. Disjointed but coherent and whole, with chugging guitars and a frenetic structure that gives way to the stomping gate of a fairytale giant. It puts to shame a song like ‘Rooftop’, which would play over the credits of that generic indie movie we talked about earlier.

Ripley Pine closes with an epic finish in ‘Taxidermist, Taxidermist’, and we know well where she stands. An indie darling with aspirations, larger than either her genre or ability for the time being. The album runs a little long, considering the sameness of many of the slower tracks, but we can forgive that; It took five years to put this record together, and I’m sure in all of that time a lot of fat was actually trimmed. Her next effort is then a source of worry, if she needs that kind of gestation period, or if after it she has lost the bold and reckless expressive ability she had at eighteen. This one is something of a gem.

Release Date: February 19, 2013
Image Courtesy of Ba Da Bing!